In this file photo, Monsignor William Lynn leaves the Criminal Justice Center, in Philadelphia. According to testimony Thursday, April 19, 2012 in a clergy-abuse trial, a heinous 1992 priest-abuse complaint "fell through the cracks" at the Philadelphia archdiocese, leaving the accused pastor to continue leading a suburban parish for three more years. Lynn, the longtime secretary for clergy at the Roman Catholic archdiocese, is charged with child endangerment and conspiracy in his handling of the 1992 complaint and other sex-abuse allegations about priests. AP/Matt Rourke
PHILADELPHIA — Graphic testimony in a Philadelphia priest-abuse trial has ripped open secret church files and reopened old wounds among Roman Catholics.
The testimony this month has proven poignant as adults describe being molested by priests as teens.
Monsignor William Lynn is the first U.S. church official to go to trial on child-endangerment charges.
He served as secretary of clergy for 12 years in Philadelphia, where prosecutors say he helped hide child sex-abuse complaints. His lawyers say he took orders from the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.
Nearly a dozen alleged victims have testified, and there are more to come.
Philadelphian Jim Ledyard says he hopes the abuse has ended in his church. Ledyard, speaking after a recent noon Mass, says many Catholics will be devastated if more abuse is uncovered.